


A Watchful Eye

by AndreaDTX



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-27
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2019-01-05 23:49:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12199728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndreaDTX/pseuds/AndreaDTX
Summary: An old friend watches over the team from afar.





	A Watchful Eye

James still kept tabs on them. He couldn’t help it. When he’d still been with them, they’d often joked that he was the Team Mom and he’d scowled. But not once did he deny it. Before she died, his wife had often joked that he was married to his job. If his job was his wife, then his agents were his kids. He’d nurtured most of them for twelve years, as long as most people spent in school before going out on their own into the real world.

But his kids had always lived in the real world.

For the last six months, he’d been worried sick about one in particular. The one the team called ‘kid’ even amongst themselves. The thought of the man he still struggled not to think of as a boy, locked in a prison, by himself, with hardened criminals made James simultaneously want to puke and punch something. None of the team had ever hesitated to put themselves between their youngest and danger. But he _had_ been alone. With nothing but his super genius brain to keep him safe.

James had tried to surreptitiously grease wheels, first to keep him out of jail, then to delay his transfer, to figure out why he wasn't granted protective custody. But there wasn’t much he could do. When Aaron Hotchner had disappeared, so had much of his clout and the favors he was owed. But when he’d caught wind that Prentiss was throwing a Hail Mary pass with a judge to get Reid released, James had nearly burned his new identity to make sure the request was approved. Regardless of what his license might say, Hotch still existed and would not stand idle while his family was down and being kicked.

Reid had walked free.

He’d scarcely had time to catch his breath and sigh in relief when the next message came through his cobbled information network.

Semi vs SUV. BAU. Casualties unknown, fatalities unknown.

His heart demanded ‘Wheels up!’ But he had no choice but to stand down.

And wait, anxiously, like a mother hen, for word of which of his ‘kids’ would walk away.


End file.
